


Missing: 1 Robot

by Verl



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Gen, Mystery, No Despair (for the V3 kids), V3 kids just enjoying Hopes Peak and then i go kidnap their robot, but right now we're just Confused, character tags might change if certain characters start showing up a lot, everyone else gets their despair, some angst is probably gonna sneak in, sort of. i think you can kind of guess what's up, sucks 2 be them
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:01:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23523481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verl/pseuds/Verl
Summary: He's a Supreme Leader, not a detective. Covering up a missing student can't be easy, and who better to see through the lies than the one who loves to use them?Also that was his robot to tease, darn it. You can't just steal him without even asking first.On the other hand, a robot has the worst vacation. How are these people somehow more exhausting than the people he always deals with?
Comments: 6
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

At first he’d brushed the lack of robot to tease as the bucket of bolts trying to avoid him again. This fell apart after a day and a half, as the straight laced rule follower couldn’t skip class just to avoid someone. Yet class had started and ended without even a glimpse of Keebo. He’d start freaking out about being made to be late by a prank, there was no way he’d skip entirely.  
So now he had to look into it more. Being sent all the way back home because of a problem the staff couldn’t fix here was possible, but that had only happened once, and everyone had known about it quickly enough with how much Miu had complained about not letting her try to fix the problem first. Keebo hadn’t been acting weird the last time he managed to get a rise out of him either.  
Four days without any notice or explanation? Something had to be wrong. The class was useless, even when mocked and jabbed at to make sure they weren’t hiding anything. No one had seen the robot. They could be excused, everyone was busy wrapping up their Ultimate assessment projects. Miu had even suggested the project was why Keebo was missing from campus, he could be off ‘improving human and robot relations’.  
Keebo’s project wasn’t on that topic. (He knew, as he’d stolen a rough draft once and led him on a good half hour chase.)  
So the fact a professor repeated that same excuse to him when he’d jokingly asked if they finally sent their fellow student to the scrap heap put a heavy weight on his chest.  
Someone was missing, and people wanted it covered up. Oh it would be noticed eventually, faster if he kept ticking everyone off. Make them ask ‘why are you bothering me?’ After all, everyone knew the robot was his favourite target. It was so easy to get him riled up, and at this point he was pretty sure Keebo couldn’t lie if his life depended on it. That and the robot just put up with it. He’d be mad, but still be perfectly civil afterwards. It was almost as if he knew it was just for fun, but still felt the need to act as if it was very serious instead of poking fun back. Or that was his idea of poking fun back, who knew how his brain worked.  
Who could he even trust with this? Obviously the whole school was out, since they were trying to hide Keebo was missing to begin with. It couldn’t be someone who couldn’t keep their mouth shut. That cut out...a lot of people. Shoot. Shuichi would be ideal, but he’d shake like a leaf and completely give the game away if he was working on a ‘real’ case. Tsumugi? She was decent at blending in and being overlooked.  
Possible. Not until he’d confirmed a few more things though. The day had been so long as he’d watched the clock, wanting to be off campus before making the phone call. Which had almost been a bust, with how long the phone had rung with no answer.

“Idabashi speaking,” Direct, to the point. Irritated?

“Heeeey, Keeboy’s dad, right?”

“Ah, you’re the ‘robophobic’ friend, right?”

“Aw he tattles on me to dad, that’s cute”

“You come up often enough that it would be weirder if I couldn’t figure out who you were.” a pause, but the tightness that had previously been in his voice was gone. “I know you probably wanted to ask something, but can you do me a favour first?”

“Depends on the favour!”

“It’s simple, really. Your phone’s working, can you just pass it to Keebo so we can chat for a bit? He usually calls by now, and his is going right to messages. I promise I won’t take long.”

Shit.  
“Well actually I was calling to ask if you knew where he was. He’s been missing since Saturday.”

The dead silence on the other end erased any thoughts of the professor being in on the case of the missing robot.

“Hey. Earth to robot frankenstein?”

“Is this one of your cruel jokes?” he didn’t even sound angry, more hollow than anything. “I know you like lying and that sort of thing.” He wanted to hear Kokichi say yes. Too bad, he wasn’t that much of a liar when it mattered.

“Sure it is! Oh wait no, that was the lie. No robot here.”

The sound of breathing was uncomfortable, and he desperately wanted to break it with some quip or snark to just make it stop. Yet he couldn’t risk antagonizing him too much.

“Thank you for letting me know.” the facade cracked at ‘letting’, the rest more of a gasp than anything else. “I-if you hear anything, any rumours, if you told me before anyone else, I would be grateful.”

“What, you’d trust my news over anyone else's? I am such a liar, you know.”

“Because you’re only worried about his disappearance as a friend.”

Now that, that was ominous. “Any chance you’d fill me in on any hunches there pops?”

The beep of the end call tone made that a very obvious ‘no’.  
Well. Who didn’t like a good conspiracy with a side order of kidnapping? Keeboy was going to owe him so much for making him worry about his stupid metal ass after this.

* * *

It may be a minor thing to be irritated about, but Keebo had hoped his first time at a beach would at least be with his classmates. Staring at the soft, gleaming white sand kissing a deep blue ocean littered with the white foam of cresting waves might have been fun that way, even if it went on so far that the ocean touched the sky on the horizon.  
Looking at it with some absolute stranger trying to get him to ‘cheer up’ was doing quite the opposite.

“Isn’t it an amazing view? It’s like potential, vast and endless.” The large muscular man was barely below shouting volume, even though the robot was only a few steps away.

“Being forcibly taken against my will in order to see such a sight has dampened any enjoyment of it.” Keebo answered, more out of obligation than a genuine want to converse with the so called ‘manager’.

“You gotta look at the bright side of things! Same thing happened to me, and it turned my life around.”

“If you are acting nicely to disarm me, I may remind you that has already been done in the most literal use of the term.” He gestured pointedly to the lonely, armless right shoulder, scowl still in place.

The man did have the decency to look a little sheepish at that, rubbing the back of his neck “It doesn’t hurt, does it?”

“You would not put my arm back even if it did, so your false concern is pointless.”

“Well if it did hurt we could find something that might fix it. Kazuichi has lots of stuff.” The man seemed rather put out at the robot’s hostility, smile fading. “I’m pretty good at impromptu fixes. Gotta be prepared for anything on the road!”

“If you actually wanted to be helpful you would have prevented your friend from kidnapping people.” A twinge of guilt made some of his anger fade in spite of himself. Feeling bad about hurting the feelings of kidnappers. Maybe he was too far on the trusting side.

“Hey, I didn’t know what he was up to either! He can be a bit of a solo player when it comes to this stuff.” A booming laugh came with his words, even though it didn’t seem like a very amusing phrase. “I’m sure you’ll be back home in no time, kid. Relax a bit!”

“After they get what they want you mean. Since you would not help me leave right now, would you?” The question that was not truly a question hung in the air, and he pressed on the weakness. “Overheating in the sun is not my idea of relaxing. Neither is being trapped on an island to get leered at by some heterochromia creep.”

“Ah Hajime isn’t that bad, you just started off on the wrong foot. When he decides to give a hundred percent, he can do anything.”

“Kidnappers are creepy. He is a kidnapper, no matter how many feet I start on.”

“Technically, I’m a thief. I didn’t kidnap anyone”

The robot spun at the voice, remaining hand balling into a fist. “Well I didn’t just appear here!” he protested, desperately wishing he had his right arm.

“Well yeah. You’re not a human, so it’s theft. Or grand larceny. So I’m not a kidnapper, by strict definition anyway,” the brown haired man shrugged, face a confusing combination of amused and bored. The eyebrows and smirk suggested the amusement, but the mismatched eyes seemed dull and unfocused.

“I still consider you one regardless of the correct definition!” The protest was almost a reflex at this point, though he truly wished it was Kokichi making a dig at his robotic nature rather than this stranger.

“Knock yourself out. Just don’t give Nekomaru a hard time. He could have just left you in that room to sulk, you know.” Hajime paused, giving a long sigh. “He probably should have.”

“Aw, we can’t leave some kid locked up like that. It isn’t like he can get off the island. Kids should be out improving themselves and following their dreams!”

“Again, it’s a robot. Self improvement isn’t on the table.”

The outraged squawk that escaped him managed to startle Nekomaru a bit, though Hajime remained impassive. “I am not an IT. That’s just being robophobic for the sake of it!”

There was a hint of amusement actually reaching his kidnapper’s eyes now. “See how he doesn’t deny the self improvement part?”

“I am still perfectly capable of improving my mind on my own.” Keebo muttered, not wanting to admit anything the man said could be considered correct.

“Uh. I thought you needed the kid’s help for something. Team infighting won’t make a quick solution.” Nekomaru frowned, crossing his arms as he glanced at the two.

“Hmm? Oh, I do. Kid can’t help willingly though.”

“You haven’t even told me what you people want!” He was getting very tired of having to look upwards. Why did all these humans have to be so tall? Literally looking down on him to go with all the metaphorical examples.

“Yup. Not going to either.” He turned as if to leave before pausing to lean over to whisper something in the larger man’s ear.

“WHAT? How-“ Nekomaru’s shout was cut off by a glare from the slighter man, leaving the manager to give an awkward cough. “Got it.” his turn was awkward, as if still off balance from whatever Hajime had said, but he managed to get that overwhelming energy back quickly enough. “All right, anywhere you want to check out?”

“A boat. Though I was serious about the overheating comment, if you have somewhere out of the sun in mind.” Nekomaru at least wasn’t actively cruel, so he couldn’t keep his resolve to be as difficult as possible for this island of kidnappers.

“Shit, didn’t even think about that. I never had any problems with the sun, but you’re a little guy!” he waved a massive hand as he started to walk, apparently trusting Keebo to follow along.

“That and you aren’t made of metal. That matters more than my size.” Dark green and black were fine colours, but they were not tropical weather ones for a reason.

“Nah, I did a stint as a robot once! That was a weird time!”

“I’m inexperienced, but that doesn’t mean my AI is completely gullible.” he couldn’t really tell if it was the sun or his own anger making him feel uncomfortable now. “You cannot just become a human or a robot like that. I do not appreciate your mockery.”

“Eh? No kid, I’m serious!” Nekomaru waved his hands, as if that could dispel Keebo’s scepticism. “Sure it wasn’t ‘real’, but my mind thought it was! It was a while ago now, but I still remember that part clearly. I COULDN’T SHIT”

“...Okay.” Better to just let Nekomaru have that one. Clearly the topic just broke his brain, as he wasn’t making any sense.

“A good appetite, a good night’s rest, and a good shit! Those are the essentials!” he still seemed fired up, almost to the point the robot could swear his eyebrows were electrified. “I could only sort of have one of those! Though it was better than being dead! Gahahaha!” Only when he had finished laughing did he notice the robot looking at him as if his head had fallen off. “‘Course you’re probably more advanced than that. Shit, how long ago was it now? ”

“I have none of those functions you call essentials.”

You would think he said the sky was falling with how Nekomaru reacted, eyes wide as he set a hand on his short tag-a-long. “You can’t even SLEEP?”

“Why would I need to?” he glanced at the hand anxiously, worried that if he moved wrong the massive man might make him lose his other arm.

“Alright! My mission as your manager is to make sure you get the full experience of life!”

“You’re not my manager? I’m perfectly alive as I am.” his protest turned into more of a squeak as Nekomaru picked him up with one hand. “Hey! I can walk!” Anyone who was scared of Gonta had to see this guy, Gonta at least was gentle enough to not harm any insects he came across. Nekomaru would probably charge through a wall if it got him somewhere faster.

“No time! That, and it’s good exercise!”

At least he could say he knew what a sack of potatoes felt like now. All he could do was hope to find some way to contact back home, an unsecured connection, a phone, anything to get out of here. Wherever here was. Escape wasn’t feeling very likely at the moment, but surely he could think of something?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's never been above a little bit of B&E
> 
> The robot would just like to walk on his own, please.

He needed a starting point, and since getting an easy answer handed to him had been ruled out, that meant he was going to have to put the effort in. Great. So Saturday was the last one anyone had seen the robot. When though?  
Kokichi glared at the whiteboard as if it had personally insulted him. Plenty of scribbles and remembered fragments of what he had overheard, but it wasn’t conclusive. Keebo was still on campus before noon, but beyond that was sketchy at best. It wasn’t like people typically mentioned the exact hour they last saw someone, especially not when he wasn’t actually asking for a time. That would be way too suspicious. He needed a different approach, this was a complete dead end. Kaito and Miu completely contradicted one another too. Kaito claimed to see him ‘at lunch’ heading off in the direction of the more technology focused labs, but Miu had been bitching about how the boltbrain had said he had to reschedule maintenance the day before. They could both be right, and he’d simply been heading in that direction but not actually gone near any of the labs. But where would he have gone instead? To the west was mostly the talent development area, you needed passes to get to most of the rooms so they wouldn’t be misused. Or vandalized. Robotics, Inventing, Programming and the general ‘Computing’ lab were all open to the robot, but the same could be said of Miu. He wouldn’t have access to any of the others. He could watch people out on the rolling green lawns honing their skills, but considering how prickly the robot got about ‘self improvement’ he doubted it. The only other area would be the pool. Which the robot generally avoided ever since he managed to shove him in the water.  
So really, a little break and enter was totally justified. Sure, the school might not approve of him lockpicking the room assigned to Keebo open, but what didn’t they know wouldn’t hurt them. Or it would and they deserved a little pain anyway.

The room struck him as depressing. A chair, a desk, a small shelf with a few books and a closet. Nothing on the walls, nowhere for someone to sit when they visited, not even a pointless toy or knick knack on the shelf. The robot always claimed having a room was pointless, as he didn’t sleep and generally didn’t want to study all alone if he could with someone else. Yet he didn’t expect it to be this...generic. It would make it easier to search, but clearly after this he was going to have to make some unexpected visits to liven the place up.  
Schoolwork notes on the desk, boring and pointless. If Keebo kept a planner, it wasn’t here. Might be in his stupid metal head, with his luck. The drawers only held more notes.  
“Sheesh Keeboy. What the heck do you do in here all night?” he muttered, struggling with the locked drawer at the bottom. The light click had him pull it open, but his frown only deepened. More piles of paper in the robot’s oddly uniform scrawl. And a plush orca? That’s what was worth locking up?  
Detailed reports of...the way he’d spent his day. In a locked drawer.  
He’d basically just broken into his diary, but it wasn’t even fun for that. Just line after line of his activities. With timestamps. Nothing about how he felt or learned. Still, the week before he’d vanished might have some clues in it. He snatched those papers and slid them into his notebook, trying to ignore reading them for the moment when there was still the rest of the room to check out.  
With the lock snapped shut again he pulled out the books, but they were just as they appeared, if a little well worn. Most were boring factual texts about the history of humanity, psychology, the arts, some comedy. There was a self help book on emotions, but it looked nearly untouched.  
A flick through to check for any hidden papers cleared that up. The first page wasn’t the blank separator it usually was.  
 _I don’t understand this._

He slipped it back in place, ignoring the uncomfortable weight in his chest. Just a laugh a minute, this room! At least the slim book tucked in at the end was a little amusing. The Little Engine that Could. _That_ he could tease the robot about.

“Alright closet, you better have something interesting” he warned the door before pulling it open, squinting as lights flicked on automatically. Huh. No clothes here. Various cords wound around pegs on the wall, a small shelf holding what looked like some sort of cleaning spray and cloths. The rest of it was mostly taken up by some sort of clear container filled with labeled boxes. Spare parts. His grin returned when he spotted a slim metal rectangle resting against the box. He grabbed it, flipping the little laptop in his hands. It powered on easily enough, but now he was faced with a lock screen.  
Password didn’t work, and it didn’t offer him a hint either. Too much to hope the robot was that bad at computers, but it was worth a shot. Another few obvious ones entered, fishing for that password hint, but it still refused to give one up. Keebo apparently hadn’t set a hint up. So it had to be something he absolutely would never forget. Or he was just an idiot who didn’t know you could have a hint.  
He flicked it shut and closed the closet, eyes darting around a second time. Was that really all that was in here? Not even a TV?  
He didn’t spot a phone. If it wasn’t here, did it mean he had it when he vanished? There wasn’t a sign of a scuffle, but the robot wasn’t exactly the master of self defense.  
Better to get out of here with what he had and guess about that later. A quick check out of the door opened just a crack to see the coast was clear, and then he was out of there. It was good to be known as a troublemaker that ran all over the place, no one questioned why the tiny menace was bolting to his room to stash the goods.

* * *

The first step to better ‘appreciating life’ was dragging him to what seemed to be a more untamed part of the island chain, the overgrown foliage seeming out of place considering the paved road less than a ten minute walk away.

“I don’t spend a ton of time here, but it’s impressive, yeah?”

Oh. Was he meant to be seeing something other than wild plants? “They seem healthy?” he ventured, wondering if showing interest would get Nekomaru to put him down already.

“Well yeah! We worked hard on em, of course they’re healthy!” the man was grinning, walking past a few of the trees. Were they perhaps too perfectly spaced to be natural? “Probably won’t need em, but fresh food is important too!”

Well that explained why he didn’t recognize most of the plants, food was incredibly low on his priorities. If he didn’t know something was edible, he wouldn’t need to feel like he was missing out on anything. Wait, ‘won’t’ need them? That didn’t make sense. “How do you normally feed yourselves then? It is not as if you could simply buy some food out here.”

Nekomaru paused at the question, doing his best to look very interested in a patch of growing peppers. “Eh that’s more Teruteru’s thing, ask him.”

A lie, and not even a very good one. Though it did get him a name. Of course, Nekomaru could have simply lied from the beginning when he claimed that he and his friends always lived on this island, instead of only using it temporarily for some strange reason. “You are carrying me, and I do not know who that is.” the robot grumbled, not wanting to let on that he had seen through the lie easily.

“Right! Introductions! That’s why we’re here anyway-” he was back to an easy stride, eyes scanning as he walked. “She should be here today…”

“You are a very strange group of kidnappers.” Keebo winced as his remark got the man laughing again

“I told ya! We’re not kidnappers.”

“Fine. Very strange accomplices of a kidnapper.” he corrected dryly, eyes scanning the various tropical plants. Showing your victim everyone and their food supply didn’t seem like the smartest move. Perhaps they were trying to give him Stolkholm syndrome?  
No, they’d been friendly too quickly for that. Even if the spiky brown haired man was quite rude, he hadn’t done anything painful...this whole situation was confusing.

“I’ll give you that, kid.”he said, amusement still evident in his voice. “Sonia! You here?”

“Oh! Nekomaru, how lovely it is to see you!” A woman’s voice came from somewhere nearby, the sound of footsteps betraying their approach. She was tall, with long hair tied back and away from a basket half filled with various vegetables. Her clothes seemed to be a little bit too nice to be used for gardening, but perhaps she simply liked the look. Puzzlement wrinkled her brow once she spotted Nekomaru’s burden. “Are you helping Kazuichi with something this morning? That thing you’re carrying is rather odd.”

“I am not odd! Or know who that person is, either.” his annoyed reaction made her step back, apparently not expecting the robot to move, let alone speak.

“My apologies? I did not mean to offend.” she sounded unsure, glancing at her friend for assistance.

“Ah yeah, sorry ‘bout that. Just making sure our guest knows they don’t need to be scared here.”

“Guest implies I had a choice in any of this.” he’d cross his arms, but only having one would just make the gesture look silly. “It is perfectly normal to be concerned about being on an island with a kidnapper.”

Sonia still looked confused for a moment, staring at the two of them for a long moment before blinking. “Hajime decided to be reckless after all?” her grip tightened on the basket.

“Yup. Though you might need to get in line for the scolding party!” he was laughing again, making the robot grimace. He was way too...fine with all this nonsense. “Figured I could help by not making this whole thing awful for the kid. He seemed pretty terrified in that room.”

“I’m _right_ here you know.” He didn’t bother denying the terrified part. Of course he had been! His last memory before waking up was being mid conversation. So he’d been forcibly shut down unknowingly, which was worrisome enough without being somewhere completely different and missing an arm.

“We are sorry that this happened. None of us want to hurt you, I can promise you that.” she actually looked at him when speaking this time, and did appear to be genuinely sorry, if not irritated.

“Not that anyone will tell me what you guys actually do want.” The fact they were quiet about what that thing was could only make him think it wasn’t a good thing. After all ‘not wanting’ to hurt someone didn’t mean you were not going to do so.

“I would if I knew.” the woman seemed more determined now, and it was almost a little frightening. “We will have words about terrorizing children. Or deciding to take actions that will impact everyone without notice.” she turned at this, apparently deciding she had to do that immediately.

“I’d warn him but he kinda deserves it.” the manager watched her go, adjusting his grip on the robot under his arm slightly. “So yeah. That’s Sonia. She’s nice, and you kinda talk like her so maybe you’ll get along?”

“I would say that is an understatement.” Perhaps this Sonia person could get hedgehog-head to see some sense? Yet they seemed to be in charge, with how this clearly larger and stronger man seemed to defer to the kidnapper. “Do we really sound alike? I suppose it is also not her first language, or something similar.”

“Yeah that’s it. Now who else would be safe…”

“Safe? So there are others of you who are dangerous?” That wasn’t surprising.

Nekomaru shrugged off the judgement as he set off again. “Nah not dangerous! Just a bit excitable.”

The fact Nekomaru could consider someone ‘excitable’ with how boisterous he was himself was rather terrifying. He had always assumed his classmates were oddities, their ultimate talents explaining some of their overwhelming personalities. Apparently there was weirder out there, even as adults. Being a weird group on an island might make them stranger than the average person, though.  
He was really going to need extra homework on what normal people were like, as his own experiences were doomed to be endlessly lopsided towards ‘strange’ if this kept up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's on the shorter side, since I didn't want to get over-long. Gonta was meant to show up this time but sadly Best Guy Tricked Into Everything will have to wait  
> It's pretty slow but mostly as I fear once things start making 'sense' it will be much, much faster.  
> So there is a bit of complete confusion for now, but hopefully it is entertaining and leaving one guessing  
> hopefully i do not mangle anyone's favourite character (i probably will somehow)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Must. Not. Befriend-oh too late  
> Hi Ibuki!

“Hey, I’ve been talking too much about me! What about you kid, got any hobbies?”

“I understand you are trying to be friendly, but I do not think I should tell kidnappers more about me.” Keebo kept his eyes down, unsure if he was being unfair or simply logical. “This whole being nice thing could be a set up.”

“Hah! Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” Nekomaru didn’t seem overly bothered as he looked down two paths. They looked like they attached to little cottages, or something similar. “Figured hobbies would be harmless, but that’s up to you.”

It was like someone shoved all of Kaito’s ability to yell into Gonta or something. It would be much easier to relax a little and be able to trust the musclebound smiling man, but that was exactly why he shouldn’t. The other one, Sonia had been similarly pleasant, but he didn’t actually know any of these people. Having one person scare him and others befriend him was a very reasonable way to manipulate someone. “Sorry.”

“Nah, it’s okay kid. Just trying to get your mind off things.” he gave an easy shrug “Normally I’d suggest a good workout! Don’t think that’d do you much good though.”

“Any hard exercise is pointless, yes. I wouldn’t want to be stronger anyway.”

“Really? Eh, I guess you’d have all you need built in.” he paused, frowning at the cottages a bit before heading to the seats near the poolside. Why kidnappers on an island had some sort of inground pool when surrounded by the ocean, the robot had no idea.

“Something like that. The muscles you guys have are weird. Why do you have to damage them to make them stronger? That’s just inefficient.” It was safe to just..talk about this kind of thought and stay away from specifics, right? He’d always wanted to point it out, but the last thing he’d wanted was to seem even weirder to his classmates. So telling this guy in the middle of nowhere could be interesting, at least.

“Random chance! But hey, some inefficient muscles gave you whatever you have in there.”

The robot snorted. “It would be impossible to forget. I am reminded of that all the time.” The robot flexed his fingers, idly wondering if he should be worrying about sand sneaking in every possible gap. Dust was annoying enough, and he could already imagine the comments Miu would be making.

“Shit, didn’t even think about that.” he let out another boisterous laugh. “No one ever said I was the smart one around here!”

“How many of you are there anyway?”

“Not a lot. Only the fifteen of us out here, so it’s not too hard to miss each other,” 

Fifteen? That was more than he would have expected, if you intended to be secretive surely less would be better. Or significantly more to cover up any wrongdoing. Learning more wasn’t really helping him think of ways to escape. Constantly checking if there was a signal to send off an emergency alert to the professor was all well and good, but he was fairly sure the antenna wasn’t actually working at the moment. At least it hadn’t been ripped off like his arm.

“OMG. It’s a tiny Hajito. Or a Nagime? Hi! Oh but Nekomaru is with you! A Mechanagime?”

Her words were almost more painful than the volume she was speaking at, the robot struggling to parce whatever it was she was saying before finally setting on ‘very nonsensical names’ as he buried the lower half of his face in his collar. “I’m sorry. I have no idea what you meant by that.”

“Polite too! Maybe a Makoito? What do you think coach? Where’d ya find him?” her rapid fire questions didn’t seem to phase the large man, apparently used to this sort of questioning.

“Nah, the kid isn’t from here. Though I guess I can see the resemblance.”

“Oooooh. So what is it? Huh? I thought he gave up on robots.” she leaned closer, only stopping when the robot flinched backwards in an attempt to get some personal space.

“No clue! Hajime is keeping pretty quiet about it.”

Hearing the kidnapers name again helped shove some of the more baffling things the woman had been saying into place. “I don't look like that kidnapper. I’m just me.” his shoulder stiffened, debating between being offended or not.

“Whoops! Sorry- wait Ibuki doesn’t even have the right name to use! Was I close? Oh oh let me guess-”

“Everyone calls me Keebo” he interrupted, not really wanting to find out how long this person would guess if he let her.

“I totally would have got that! Oh, oh, can you play the piano? Cus it’s pretty close to keyboard!”

“No, but my fri-” he paused, inwardly scolding himself. These weren’t his friends, he shouldn’t just answer questions without thinking. Ibuki just seemed so earnest and overwhelming that he’d forgotten that.

“Too bad! Ibuki could totally teach you! Or maybe you’re more of a drum robot, hmmmm.” she seemed deep in thought, nodding her head as she muttered to herself.

“Is she always this enthusiastic?”

Judging by the laugh that question earned, it was probably a ‘yes’. “Hey, you don’t get many chances to recruit people into your band out here.”

A band. What? If she was that invested in music, what was she doing out in the middle of nowhere? It wasn’t like she could be seen as frightening like Nekomaru might be. Well, unless her hair poked your eye out, but he couldn’t really judge on that front.  
“I suppose not.”

“You do like music don’t you? You’ve got headphones on,”

He frowned at the question, checking the side of his head with his available hand. Nope, just normal. Yet that was absolutely what she was looking at. Oh. Human assumptions were striking again. “They’re just my ears, not headphones. I do like music, don’t most people?”

With the way her eyes lit up, admitting that might have been a mistake. “You can’t stop there! What kinds, do you have favourite groups, what’s really popular out there right now? Ibuki is dying for updates!”

...Certainly it couldn’t hurt to talk to her about musical trends lately. Or if he liked certain idol groups. He doubted he’d been kidnapped over his human pop culture knowledge, after all. He wouldn’t even be the best one to take for that, he wasn’t really the best judge in creative works. Or at least Korekyio had implied his taste was as manufactured as he was. Which still hurt, a little.  
So he answered, trying to be more general as she just seemed interested in music. A few names made her brighten a little as if she recognized the names, but most of the ones she fired questions back about he’d never even heard of. Before his time maybe...which wasn’t very difficult. Not that he’d tell them how long he’d been operational.

“Hey! You still haven’t said what your favourite is! Ibuki already told you how much she loves death metal, so it’s your turn!”

Which was intentional, he had the feeling she’d make fun of him. Yet she did seem genuinely interested in his opinion still. It was nice? It was a little weird to not be brushed off because he wasn’t a human when it came to ‘art’, honestly. “...I like pop music.” he muttered, keeping his eyes averted.

“Oh, I should show you my old group’s stuff then!" She almost looked like she'd do that right away, taking a few steps before turning around. "Wait I can totally just sing some! You can too, so I can get the melodies!"

"Oh no, I'm not allowed to sing," his face reddened , not really expecting that he'd ever need to admit that again.

"Not allowed? No such thing! Even tone deaf people can sing if they want to!"

Why did she have to insist? "...As in I literally hurt people so I'm not allowed to anymore".

Yet this seemed to excite her more than anything. "That would be the most metal song. I Dare You To Listen To This Song I Killed My Cheating Ex With, I Added Their Screaming As A Backing Vocal. Nekomaruuuuu, do we get to keep him?”

Keebo stiffened at that. “You most certainly do not!”

“She’s just jokin kid, don’t worry. Well, probably!” His laugh was not reassuring in the slightest.

“Well I guess you can leave, but you’d have to call! Or visit! That’s what friends do, right? Reaching out to your sage island guru works too!”

She seemed to make friends almost as easily as he did. She really had helped make the time pass...but they couldn’t really be friends. They were making it hard for him to remember that. Which could be the point. He wasn’t really sure how he should be feeling right now, and it was quite frustrating. 

He hadn’t really expected her to pick up on his hesitation and reluctance to answer. “Whoops, scared you again. Sorry! Oh, I know who you should meet!” she spun to face her friend “Ham hands is totally trustworthy!”

...That did not sound like a proper name. It didn’t even sound like a very nice nickname. Yet Nekomaru seemed to be considering it. “Eh. We should probably move before Mahiru shows up with Sonia.”

“Hajime’s in troubleeeeee. Ibuki will be able to hear it from the factory!”

“Probably!” the man got back to his feet, setting off at a brisk pace. Why was he always so certain he would just follow along like a puppy?  
...Well. He was going to just follow along without question but still. That could be justified by his confusion that there was apparently an entire factory around here. He definitely wasn’t just trusting these people blindly. Lying to himself was pointless and irrational, but he was doing it anyway. It was easier to do that than admit he was likely just falling for whatever trap that had been set.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keebs only chapter because I have been Neglecting My Fics and feel bad but I still hate Kokichi's part so well just put this part up and go along. :v  
> ibuki is fun ok

**Author's Note:**

> Me, playing Persona 5 Royal : 'what if DR2 characters kidnapped a robot.' 'why would that happen' 'because x'
> 
> So now you have to suffer what my phantom thief fueled brain spat out. I have no idea why it did this to me but I kind of like the idea now? Why do I have a whole ass plot??? For THIS?  
> Still this is very much the 'i do it when I'm not working on the OTHER' fanfic. I'm still not sure if future chapters will split the POV or it'll be one POV a chapter since uh. Tonal whiplash might be a bit of a thing early on here. Please feel free to give opinions/tell me i'm a nutcase.  
> Hopefully it's obvious why some. er. one character is acting strangely for a reason but if not you can say so |D  
> someone save me i'm only two palaces in and I'm still in DR hell what is wrong with me


End file.
